Menu

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Tonight is the opening for the Festival de films francophones CINEMANIA (CINEMANIA French Film Festival) in Montreal. The festival is dedicated to showing French-language films with English subtitles and will screen 35 films from around the world.

The opening night screening will be the North American premiere of Maïwenn Le Besco’s Polisse which won the Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) at the Festival de Cannes earlier this year. It was a controversial choice, however, as critical opinion was sharply divided. It tells the story of a journalist who covers the Police Department's Juvenile Protection Unit and becomes involved in an affair with one of her subjects. Some critics compared it to dramas such as The Wire.

The closing night film will be Les neiges du Kilimandjaro (The Snows of Kilimanjaro) by Robert Guédiguian. Unrelated to the Hemingway short story or the 1952 film based on that starring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner, this film takes its inspiration from a Victor Hugo poem "Les Pauvres Gens" ("How Good Are the Poor"). It tells the story of a working-class neighbourhood in Marseille and the effects of a home invasion.

Other titles that will screen over the next week-and-a-half include many highlights from Cannes and TIFF: Aki Kaurismäki’s FIPRESCI prize-winnerLe Havre, Pierre Schöller’s FIPRESCI (Un Certain Regard) prize-winnerL'Exercice de l'État (The Minister), Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon’s La fée (The Fairy), Ismaël Ferroukhi’s Les hommes libres (Free Men), André Téchiné’s Impardonnables (Unforgivable), Alain Cavalier’s Pater, Bruno Rolland’s Léa, Frédéric Louf’s J'aime regarder les filles (18 Years Old and Rising), Rémi Bezançon’s Un Heureux Evenement (A Happy Event), and Cédric Kahn’s Une Vie Meilleure (A Better Life).
Films will be screened twice each. A number of them will be presented by the filmmakers. On Saturday November 5, there will be a Meet with Maïwenn at 3:15. The next day at 3:30 hosts Conversation with Cédric Klapiasvceh who is here to present Ma part du gâteau (My Piece of the Pie). On Saturday November 12, the festival will hold a Political Round Table at 3:30pm.

The 2011 Festival de films francophones CINEMANIA continues until Sunday November 13 at the Cinéma Impérial, 1432 Rue de Bleury.